London - Amsterdam - Amalea

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Left Covent Garden this morning in the rain, off to Heathrow, so Kate could fly back to Spain, and we were off to Amsterdam. Don't think I have ever been to Heathrow when it wasn't raining!

Our flight was delayed almost an hour (late aircraft arrival), but when we got to Amsterdam, the sun was shining, and it was almost warm! We were the only people on the transfer bus (full sized bus) from the Airport to the ship (I guess because of our late arrival).

Arrived at the Amalea, our ship for the next 7 nights, docked in the centre of Amsterdam. Wow, it is absolutely beautiful. It was only launched this year, and apparently this is only it's second cruise. Checked in and off to our cabin. Fairly compact, but very nice. (And we don't have to pack our bags for a week!)

At the front of the Amalea are the lounge and the restaurant below. We had been invited to meet in the lounge at 6.00pm for a welcome cocktail with the Captain. Handed champagne as we walked in and all ladies (and that is more than half the passengers) were handed a long stemmed red rose by the Captain. We were then introduced to the "managers" on board, including the tour director (Uwe - dutch and 6'7"). He welcomed the nationalities on board - Canadian - a few, Australian - just us, and the rest of the 125 passengers are from the USA. We sat with Roberta, her husband Garry, and her sister Margaret from North Carolina and then joined them for dinner - 5 courses (6 if you include the sorbet), lovely food, and portions not too large so not as bad as it sounds. Not sure how I will do it every night though.

And when we got back to the cabin after dinner, apart from the turndown service (including chocolate) they had put the rose in a vase!

The ship stayed in Amsterdam overnight.

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